The Languishing World of Post Production and What's To Come

It's crazy being so close to the finish line!  I am nearly days away from having the FINAL audio locked on the film (minus a couple new pieces of music that we'll drop in once our composer is finished).  I just need to sit down with my Director of Photography, Tom McCarty and color time the film.  There are a few "tidying up" things left to do (i.e., polishing the opening title graphics, smoothing out a few transitions, etc.), but all in all, I'd say there's about a week's worth of work left on the film.  And, so now, after nearly FOUR YEARS of laboring over this "bad boy," the finish line is an AMAZING site for sore eyes!

We had several scenes with completely unusable audio, so I've had to do a LOT of building audio tracks from scratch.  At first I was just going to live with some audio that wasn't great, but after doing some foley on a few scenes and hearing WHAT A DIFFERENCE a good audio tracks makes (compared to a not-so-good audio track), I simply couldn't ignore the other "lesser" scenes, and so I was forced to take a look at EVERY scene of the film to see how we can make the audio better.  I still opted to use some original production audio in a few scenes, but for the important ones, I've made the effort to go ahead and foley the heck out of them... Just trying to finish the film as strongly as we all started it.

I originally had no intention of doing the audio post on my film, but not being able to find someone to do it for me, and in keeping with the spirit of this ZERO budget production, I, yet again, grabbed a new hat to wear and officially became the sound designer/editor/mixer on this project as well.  To avoid being pretentious and listing my name a hundred times in the end credits of the film, I just made a title card that says, "Picture and Audio Post-Production: Jeremy Casper."  I never want to do that again, but I learned a ton!

A cold, brisk morning in Los Angeles.  Sound Editing by Candle Light

(NOTE: for those of you who don't know what "foley" is: Foley is any sound created by a human [excluding their voice] that is re-recorded in a studio or on location.  EXAMPLE: footsteps, clothes rustling, snapping fingers, creaking doors.  In most films, all of those sounds have been re-recorded in a studio and added back into the film... usually those kinds of sounds don't record well on set, so they have to be redone.  You'd be surprised at HOW MUCH of the final soundtrack you hear in a movie theatre was NOT recorded on set... even a lot of the dialogue!)

I've actually been giving some thought to what life is going to be like after this film is over.  The other night, I sat up in bed in a little bit of a panic!  Working on this film has been "my life" since the summer of 2008.  I started teaching at the LAFSC in the Fall of 2007 (which was right after I started conceiving the film), so I have been teaching at the center for as long as I've been working on this film.  I fact, I came up with the idea for Vacant House right before we moved up to Pasadena from South Orange County, so I literally haven't been in LA for a single minute when I wasn't working on this project. 

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER!? 

Sure, I've got more projects on the horizon, but I have been working on my all-time favorite passion (making a movie) for YEARS... What am I going to do when I suddenly don't have a SPECIFIC film project to work on?  When I think about that question, my stomach sinks a little... I know myself well enough to know that I was made to create things... I must have a creative project!  There's going to be an emptiness when this is all done.  I'm sure festival entries (and hopefully acceptances) will fill my time for a while... but still... it's going to be a strange feeling.

I'm doing a lot of writing, but I haven't written anything recently that I think would make a great second film.  And even if I did know what film I wanted to do next, I wouldn't want to do it unless we have some serious funding!  I'm definitely not wearing 20 hats on my next production.

I will give you a hint of what my next (non-film) related project is.  I'm working on a children's book!  And even though, at the moment, the story is not in screenplay format, I think it could make a really exciting animated film.  But more about that later.

I've been trying to sort of "beef up" our films online presence (hence this blog entry), and I have a producer friend of mine Melanie Hall, to thank for that... She's great at this whole social networking thing (check out her and her husband's film Sudden Death!).  So, if you're really interested in following us, be sure to checkout our Facebook pages and our Twitter feed:

Facebook: Vacant House Facebook Page

Twitter: Vacant House (2012) Twitter Feed

Well, ironically, now that the film is winding down, there's a distinct possibility that I'll actually be blogging MORE.  I'm such a "reflection" kind of guy... sometimes I can't really process an experience until it's nearly over and I can think back upon it.  So, if you want more info about the film, check out the above links... If you're more interested in the neurotic ramblings of a filmmaker who has no idea what he just wen through and what's next for him, then keep coming back here! :-)

Thanks to everyone for all of the support.

MORE TO COME!

Jeremy